Next, we made it over to the new Central Library. There's a public reading balcony on the 6th floor overlooking downtown.

The (former) Seaholm Power Plant.

South Austin Medical Center - going through an expansion adding several floors to the building.

70 Rainey, a condo building, (419 feet 33 floors).

Cropped "zoomed" version of the above photo showing the airport Hilton Hotel in the distance at ABIA - about 6 1/2 miles away. You can just see a jet tail sticking up to the left of it.

View from the library - This group of buildings is part of the redevelopment of the Green Water Treatment Plant. Third + Shoal, seen here under construction on the left, which is actually on a lot that was not part of the plant redevelopment, replaced the Austin Music Hall. The other three towers to the right of it are part of the redevelopment. The last remaining lot on the lower right will also be developed with a tower. In all, about 3 million square feet of office, hotel, apartments, condos, and retail will be completed in 5 towers. Facebook and Google are tenants in two of the buildings.

The Independent looms north of the library.

Looking north toward West Campus, the area we drove through earlier.

500 West 2nd - the "Google Tower" - I'm happy with it. I like the details.

The dreaded Seaholm substation smack dab in the middle of density. Hopefully, someday, this will go away.

The Independent

With the closing of the power plant and water treatment plant, it was possible to build new sections of streets through those blocks. 2nd Street got a new bridge across Shoal Creek which helps with traffic flow from the west side of downtown to the east.

Still mystifying on the sustained boom Austin has had for what 20 years!?

Well, the 90s were pretty boring for high rise development in Austin. I was starting to wonder if I'd ever be able to see one under construction that I would have a good memory of. I was too young to care when most of the ones in the 80s were built. The first office "tower" to come along was the 23-story 300 West Sixth in 2002. Then 2 years later the Frost Bank Tower was built, along with the 31-story Hilton Convention Center Hotel. There were a few smaller residential buildings in the 10 floor range that were built back then, but nothing too major. Some sizable ones were also proposed but didn't happen. It wasn't until 2008 that several new buildings finished construction, including 360 Condos, which was a new tallest for Austin. Still, we've had 4 new tallest buildings in Austin since 2004, including The Independent that's under construction now. You would have to go back to 1974 to be able to count the previous 4 new tallest which came in '74, '75, '84, and '87. We'll be having another new tallest in a few years with the 608 Guadalupe Tower. We spent 1987 to 2004 with just two building in Austin that were taller than 400 feet. Now we have 18 buildings over 400 feet, and 16 of those didn't exist before 2004.

Well, the 90s were pretty boring for high rise development in Austin. I was starting to wonder if I'd ever be able to see one under construction that I would have a good memory of. I was too young to care when most of the ones in the 80s were built. The first office "tower" to come along was the 23-story 300 West Sixth in 2002. Then 2 years later the Frost Bank Tower was built, along with the 31-story Hilton Convention Center Hotel. There were a few smaller residential buildings in the 10 floor range that were built back then, but nothing too major. Some sizable ones were also proposed but didn't happen. It wasn't until 2008 that several new buildings finished construction, including 360 Condos, which was a new tallest for Austin. Still, we've had 4 new tallest buildings in Austin since 2004, including The Independent that's under construction now. You would have to go back to 1974 to be able to count the previous 4 new tallest which came in '74, '75, '84, and '87. We'll be having another new tallest in a few years with the 608 Guadalupe Tower. We spent 1987 to 2004 with just two building in Austin that were taller than 400 feet. Now we have 18 buildings over 400 feet, and 16 of those didn't exist before 2004.

Yeah, it is really remarkable.

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He said he'd cure your ills, but he didn't and he never will